President makes good on campaign pledge, NFL revises some rules, House Speaker Ryan stand by Nunes, and more headlines for your drive home Tuesday, March 28, 2017.

Staff Report

WASHINGTON — Declaring "the start of a new era" in energy production, President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday that he said would revive the coal industry and create jobs.

The move makes good on his campaign pledge to unravel former President Barack Obama's plan to curb global warming. The order seeks to suspend, rescind or flag for review more than a half-dozen measures in an effort to boost domestic energy production in the form of fossil fuels.

Environmental activists, including former Vice President Al Gore, denounced the plan. But Trump said the effort would allow workers to "succeed on a level playing field for the first time in a long time."

NFL REFEREES NO LONGER HAVE FINAL SAY ON REPLAY

PHOENIX — NFL owners got busy Tuesday passing several rules changes and adopting resolutions they believe will speed up the game and enhance player safety.

Most notable Tuesday was the change in handling officiating of video replays. Referees will now watch replays on the field using tablets, eliminating "going under the hood" to the watch on television monitors.

Meanwhile, league officiating chief Dean Blandino and his staff in New York will make the final decisions on those calls, with input from the referee, who in the past was the ultimate arbiter.

RYAN CONFIDENT FAITH IN NUNES

House Speaker Paul Ryan is expressing confidence in the chairman of the House intelligence committee, saying he should continue to lead the panel's probe into Russian contacts with President Donald Trump's associates.

Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., is facing increasing pressure from Democrats to step away because he's seen as being too close to the White House, especially after he went to the White House grounds to review secret reports.

Ryan said at a press conference Tuesday that there is no need for Nunes to resign or step aside from probe.

TRIBES WILL CONTINUE TO BATTLE PIPELINE

BISMARCK, N.D. — American Indian tribes fighting the $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline said Tuesday that the pumping of oil into the pipe under their water source is a blow, but it doesn't end their legal battle. Industry groups say the imminent flow of oil through the pipeline is good news for energy and infrastructure.

The comments come after Texas-based developer Energy Transfer Partners said Monday that it has placed oil in a section of the pipeline under a Missouri River reservoir that's upstream from the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North Dakota.

TRUMP TO MEET CHINA'S XI IN APRIL

WASHINGTON — A senior State Department official says Chinese President Xi Jinping (shee jihn-peeng) will meet with President Donald Trump the first full week of April.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had originally planned to skip a meeting of NATO foreign ministers scheduled for April 5-6 in Brussels. The meeting was rescheduled for Friday after Tillerson told NATO he had a scheduling conflict.

The official told reporters on Tuesday the reason Tillerson couldn't make the original date is because Xi will be visiting the United States then.